Playing with trains/ HS2 & 3

[teamsaint]

Under capacity at peak times may well always be a problem.
off peak, problems might be eased if, for example, the last train out of London for Manchester was after 10.00 pm.

That is an absolute joke.

[teamsaint]

All the over-capacity problems would cease if every passenger paid the going rate, with no subsidy.

Well capacity problems might be solved on the railway under your plan, but there wouldn't be anybody to do the menial jobs for the bankers and politicians in London.
Perhaps it is a good idea, on reflection !

[Richard Tarleton]

It seems to have worked well in Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Belguim and Germany, so there should be similar benefits in the UK.

In a way, my point - if the benefits are so obvious, there should be little room for disagreement.

It's a bit like weapons technology - weapons are developed to fight the last war, not the next one. High speed rail may not be an issue in 30 years time when this will be ready....Japan's was built before digital technology....

[teamsaint]

In a way, my point - if the benefits are so obvious, there should be little room for disagreement.

It's a bit like weapons technology - weapons are developed to fight the last war, not the next one. High speed rail may not be an issue in 30 years time when this will be ready....Japan's was built before digital technology....

will we have dealt with all our other rail issues though?

This project, which would transform Transport in the area, is at a suggested cost of £3m.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hythe_(Hampshire)_railway_station

[mangerton]

However, I would be in favour of starting it in the north and making London wait, as they have a high speed line already.

The north. I assume you mean Inverness or Aberdeen, then. Excellent idea.

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Well capacity problems might be solved on the railway under your plan, but there wouldn't be anybody to do the menial jobs for the bankers and politicians in London.
Perhaps it is a good idea, on reflection !

No, it would simply require that the assistants to politicians and bankers get a fairer share of the cake won by their employers.

But gIven that HS2 will take 20 years to develop, has anyone considered what the transport needs will be by then? I'd be surprised, for example, if everyone didn't have 100 Mbps broadband in 2030 (cf South Korea). Domestic connection speeds would be as high as the usual office desk-top connection speed. So why would anyone need to commute to an office? The time and cost saved by working from home will be compelling.

Perhaps there's a need for railways as part of the vertical architecture of modern cities, but should that be subsidised? And perhaps railways are great for shifting heavy loads, albeit goods trains wreck the lines at a rate of knots? They're claimed to be green, but the figures I've seen in IEE lectures suggest otherwise (and who cares anyway?), and by 2020 we'll all be in 70 g/km cars or else the EU police will have us. Let them be rich-men's (and public sector pensioner's) toys.

Perhaps they should go for the broadband improvement now (as part of a strategy for growth) aiming for 2020 completion, go through the inital HS2 planning, and review the situation a little after 2020?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The north. I assume you mean Inverness or Aberdeen, then. Excellent idea.

Indeed, I would start from Aberdeen. I've already drawn up plans, though I don't expect any takers.

[MrGongGong]

Not wanting to be morbid or anything
but most of us will be well and truly on the necropolis railway by the time they get it built
or going to seed and unable to travel

(unless we all get what Elliot got )

[teamsaint]

I wonder if they will run football specials on the new line ?

[Flosshilde]

Indeed, I would start from Aberdeen. I've already drawn up plans, though I don't expect any takers.

A suggestion I made on an earlier thread. If construction started at Aberdeen & moved south it would reach London very quickly. Starting at London means that there is no incentive to go beyond the English midlands.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A suggestion I made on an earlier thread. If construction started at Aberdeen & moved south it would reach London very quickly. Starting at London means that there is no incentive to go beyond the English midlands.

Congratulations to the Scottish parliament for their (rather more efficient) plans for "HS3" from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

[Stephen Smith]

Listened to You and Yours yesterday (Tues 29th) and was impressed by the leader of Bucks CC. He was very confident that the more you scratched beneath the surface, the more HS2 (and therefore 3) are very poor uses of taxpayers funds. He made the point that benefit to cost for roads needs to be many times higher than for HS2 before funds are committed.

[Vile Consort]

I can't speak for the WCML but trains between Leeds and London are packed - uncomfortably so for most of the day.

Have you ever travelled on a train, Resurrection Man? Recently?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I can't speak for the WCML but trains between Leeds and London are packed - uncomfortably so for most of the day.

And it wasn't always thus. As a student in the late '70s-early '80s I travelled from Leeds to London quite regularly, every time finding a seat. I have given up on rail travel for all but the shortest journeys; it has become quite literally too painful an experience.

[MrGongGong]

I can't speak for the WCML but trains between Leeds and London are packed - uncomfortably so for most of the day.

Humm

I travel on that route about once a week
the trains ARE a nightmare in the early morning and evening
but often empty in the early afternoon